Local supply teaching agency, System People plan for a busy September despite the setback that coronavirus caused earlier this year.
System People Ltd are a Carlisle based teaching and teaching assistant supply business who place supply staff across Cumbria in secondary and primary schools. The company’s Commercial Director, Lyndsey Fitheridge, says that; “despite the sudden closure of schools in March and subsequent freeze on supply work, we are now seeing a surge of activity as Head Teachers and Senior school staff prepare to reopen schools this coming September.”
Lyndsey describes this as a “great sign and a huge relief” for the teaching supply industry. It has been, and still is a challenging time for many supply teachers and TA’s as work simply dried up overnight once the country entered lockdown. Naturally, the government job retention scheme did relieve some of this anguish but there has still been concern as to how things would pan out. The fact that there is some normality on the horizon for September is wonderful for the education supply industry as a whole.
News like this is promising and a sign that the Education sector will remain strong. Lyndsey explains that she has regularly received emails and messages from Teachers while in Lockdown to share that they have really missed being in the classroom and that they can’t wait to get back and do what they do best!
System People have ridden the wave and are in a strong position to support their teachers and TA’s (and new recruits too) who are currently on their books to secure work for next academic year. When asked what they have done to remain secure and ready for schools opening in September.
Managing Director, Rebecca Bird explained; “It’s been a very tough and unprecedented time in my career to date. The Directors and I have worked so hard during this time to do everything we can to look after our own staff, and the Teaching and TA supply staff. This has included arranging furlough payments and ensuring that the business continued to run throughout the lockdown wherever possible. We have had a chance to really review our business, our systems and staffing structure and are excited about the future.”
Even better news is the fact that System People has seen much activity in their apprenticeship business, and again, the Education Sector seems to be very active. The company offer apprenticeships to young people in Cumbria who are keen to begin a career as a teaching assistant, childcare assistant or business administrator and have found that vacancies are coming in at the same rate as this time last year.
Lead Teaching Assistant Tutor, Sarah Taylor explains that “its been wonderful speaking to head teachers across Cumbria to find out about the apprentice opportunities they have planned.” This is especially great news as so many young people leaving school this year face hard times as the job market is expected to retract post virus.
If you are looking for supply teaching or TA work in Cumbria or if you are looking for an apprenticeship in a school then you can contact System People on 01228 530554 or visit the website at system-people.co.uk.
The business is holding a virtual Apprenticeship ZOOM event on Thursday 9th July at 11am where you can find out all about the Apprenticeship jobs they have on offer. Join the Virtual convo on https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81806536930
